My New Friend in the Kitchen...

My Mum is the best Mum in the world. I know all daughters must think that, but seriously, when she heard me lamenting about my only frypan being fraught with danger (Teflon) she bought me this gorgeous thing, a 28cm Chasseur cast iron fry pan as an early birthday and christmas present!

And not only that, she let me use it straight away, to, you know, do away with nasty toxins as soon as possible. What a lucky daughter I am.

I was reading on this lovely site that I have talked about previously and became enamoured with the list of kitchen essentials and cooking tools that are healthy and safe. Stainless steel would be my other option, which I may still add to my birthday list for next year. I imagine I will learn what I can and can't cook with my cast iron friend in time.

It's beautiful, it will be very non stick one day when it is seasoned and cooked with enough that it soaks up natural oils from said cooking and a lovely non stick patina will be created on the surface. It is heavy, but the heat distribution is amazing and it can go in the oven! And it matches my other love in the kitchen, my Le Crueset 24cm french oven. Which my Mum also bought for me. Lucky me!

xx

Apologies+Tortilla!

Hello! Its been so long and I started off so well - what happened? Life! A bit of work a bit of stuff here and there, so, sorry! I did promise more recipes in my last ramble, so here it is...

A few weeks ago I made a variation of a recipe from a cookbook that has changed my life, Jamie's 30 Minute Meals, by my favourite foodie Jamie Oliver. I could create a whole blog really about how much I love this book and how fantastic, quick, convenient and healthy all the recipes are, but now is not the time for that! I didn't plan to make this meal, it was made with things I had in the fridge and pantry and it turned out so well and so yummily that I have made it again since.

So here it is, tweaked and flexible, to suit us.

Jamie Oliver's Tortilla with Quinoa and Lentil Salad...(The salad I just kind of made up!)

Turn the oven on to about 200.

Grab 4 or 5 potatoes (peeled if you like) cut into 1cm chunks and chuck them into a medium frypan (preferably one you can put in the oven) and saute with some olive oil. As they are not parboiled it will take a while, I put a lid on.

If you have a red onion you can chop it up however you like and add it when they are about half done. I only had a brown and it worked fine. When the potatoes are nice and golden (harder to get them golden if you are withholding oil like me, but mushy is okay too!) crush 2 unpeeled garlic cloves into the pan and some chopped rosemary leaves (a couple of sprigs). Season with some salt and pepper. It smells divine about now.

Then crack about 8 eggs (or less if you want) straight into the pan and mix about a bit. Jamie recommends to cook it a bit on the stove to get the bottom going and then whack it in the oven, but whatever suits you!

I don't have a pan that can go in the oven so I usually transfer the potato mix to a lined ceramic baking dish and pour the eggs ontop then put straight ino the oven. I also grate a bit of parmesan over the top for some bite, it was yummy!

It's ready when it's all golden on top!

Quinoa and Lentil Salad

Okay, I have recently replaced couscous in our house with a much more nutritious alternative, the lovely and mysterious quinoa (you say it keen-wah I think). Couscous, however easy and yummy, is basically just like little bits of pasta and it lacks the fibre, b vitamins and minerals found in whole grains such as barley and quinoa. So we have made the change! I told my four year old daughter it's a kind of 'Bubbly Couscous' and she was fine with it!

So here we go with the method and as usual, add or subtract whatever suits you.

Cover 1 cup of quinoa ( I used white) and a pinch of salt with 1 3/4 cups of boiling water in a pan. Bring to the boil and simmer gently (lid on) for 15 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed and then turn off and let steam. It's pretty much like cooking rice. Fluff with a fork after about 10 minutes and allow to cool.

From this point it's pretty much add what you will - for us it was a rinsed and drained can of organic brown lentils, some finely chopped baby spinach (goes down better with the kids that way) a good handful of pepita's, a couple of spring onions finely sliced, some roasted pumpkin all mixed in and topped off with some feta (again!).

I squeeze the juice of one lemon and season with salt and pepper! Voila! Add some olive oil to make it a bit creamy!

(Yesterday I made this with chickpeas instead of lentils and grated carrot. As usual you could add slivered almonds, capsicum, whatever you like really! I think I have also tried it with some sauteed mushrooms...)

The reason I gravitate towards recipes like the tortilla and this salad are that they are totally flexible and once you learn how to make them I find them a really great healthy go to for when I don't want to go up to the shops and spend money on some meat or a more fancy dinner.

I am by no means a fancy cook, something basic, tasty and healthy is what I am always looking for and these kinds of things suit me down to the ground! I usually make a frittata but this tortilla is a wonderful spanish inspired alternative that I am so happy I now know how to make!

Have a great week, more posts to come I promise!

Sarah xxx

P.S Apologies for the blurry pics, the light is so bad in our little kitchen in winter!

Open Pantry...

In addition to the previous post - here is some more inspiration! I am currently in the process of replacing all my plastic food storage with glass - isn't this a wonderful example of a pantry that consists of only wholefoods? Where are the packets? The plastic?

I know I envisage a beautiful new and very large kitchen to be able to realise this dream but I really think I can start now!

This picture above is of a lovely kitchen belonging to the uber-stylish Emerson of emersonmade. Of her open pantry she says,

"We designed our pantry so that everything would be visible. We have mostly unrefined ingredients because we don't eat sugar, flour and processed ingredients so we just line it all up in here and grab what we need."

That, right there, is my dream!

To say I have a bit of a girl-crush on this lady is an understatement - her stunning clothing line is full of classic pieces (think high waisted bellbottoms and willowy silk print blouses) and they are all made in the U.S. I will have to get a lot more songs placed on tv before I can buy anything but I dream about it every day! :-)

Check out the gorgeous emersonmade and also a great article about her and her husbands lovely farm in upstate New York (I think) here on the wonderful designsponge.

Okay, so am off to discover where you can buy these basic airtight jars in different sizes (my Mum has heaps), I think even Woolies might have them? And also, a great local site I found but haven't ordered off yet for when I am ready to start buying bulk!

Enjoy..

Sarah xx

Thanks to design sponge for the above image and quote...

Food for thought...

I started this post last week after I was horrified at looking at other people's shopping trolley's in the supermarket and it ended up being a rant about the ridiculous and rentless marketing and creation of packaged and processed foods that continue to dominate supermarket shelves and therefore children's plates/lunchboxes in this country. But I don't have the energy to turn it into something coherent and gently put so that is definitely going to have to be a post for another day! In addition to this I have been super busy and forgetting to take pics of my dinners so I apologise for the lack of new recipe inspiration in the last two weeks!

The past week has been a bit of learning rollercoaster actually. The kind that means you can't stop until you feel you have educated yourself to a level where you can be sure you are doing the right thing for your health and your family.

Over the past couple of years I have been trying to change our eating and consuming habits after being alerted to the immense value of organic food by a lovely friend. An ever evolving process of elimination has resulted, including making the expensive change to mostly organic groceries and fruit and veg, removing toxic cookware and serving ware (baby bottles!!) from my cupboards, eliminating all chemicals and petroleum by-products from the things we use to clean ourselves and our house. I even went through the bathroom cabinet and removed medicines, creams, lotions, make-up, soap and toothpaste that contain toxic ingredients (which I know is a very general term but is enough for the purpose of this description!).

Phew! And that doesn't even include trying to look at the abundance of plastic in the toys we let our kiddies play with (ie: suck on), the way the fibres in our clothes and bedding are produced (cotton=chemicals)!

So, back to my point. Just when I feel like I am getting a handle on these things, just when I feel like I am a more educated consumer not so likely to get caught up in marketing and the supermarket whirlwind of packaged, pre-prepared and convenient products that can make my life germ-free and sparkling clean, I realise I am still very much in the dark about a lot of the things that myself and my beautiful family consume on a day to day basis!

For example. The past week I have discovered that cans are lined with BPA, (even those containing organic produce) aluminum foil leaches aluminum into foods (a bit of a 'duh' moment, but still) and non-organic conventional milk can contain high levels of antibiotics and hormones, as well as pesticides (there are concerns this could be initiating early puberty in children). Also, for the first time, I have begun to question the act of barbequing meat, as I learned that when animal protein is subjected to a high heat or flame it creates two chemicals that have been associated with breast, pancreatic and colon cancers. Arrghh!!

So with these sobering facts I shall point you in the direction of an amazing food/organic site that I found. Pamela Salzman is an American nutritionist and cooking instructor and her site boasts at least an afternoon full of articles, recipes and sage advice for those wishing to live a healthy life. There are particularly great ideas for getting kids to eat better, great lists of pantry and kitchen staples and excellent recommendations for safe cookware and utensils. All of the facts I learned above that scared the wits out of me (and the lovely husband once he realised he would have to fund even more replacing of cooking gear/food storage) I found on her site. I highly recommend you take a little trip over there for some interesting reading that will surely get the mind ticking!

On this note I leave you to go and try a potato and rosemary tortilla (remember to take photos Sarah!). Please excuse such a rambling and passionate post so removed from the light hearted words that have preceeded it. I felt it was necessary to share! Have a great week - will be posting a new recipe soon I promise!

Sarah xx

P.S I can't mention going organic on here without a plug for the wonderful Organic Empire who deliver absolutely beautiful organic produce to us here in Melbourne at a very reasonable cost every week. Their site is lovely!

P.P.S After the toasted muesli post none of you could be unaware of my obsession with oats at the moment, did you know that including oats in your diet provides a wide range of important health benefits such as decreasing ones risk of hormone-related diseases such as breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, reducing high blood pressure, assistance with weight control and the most obvious - they are a significant source of dietary fibre! Yay! More about the wonders of oats here..

Picture via here

A picnic in a jar...

Okay, all cooked out here over the weekend (although I did just try to recreate my Mum's delicious pumpkin soup, she gave me the secret ingredient - sherry, perhaps I will take some pics and post a recipe this week, not that you all don't know how to make a good pumpkin soup) so thought I would share something so cool I found today via here.

Called a 'mason jar meal', what a fantastic idea and how beautiful are the photographs - they make me wish it was warm and sunny here and not wintery at all (although I love the cold and the rain!) so I could pick a nice piece of the Yarra to sit beside and have a very stylish and healthy picnic. I dare you to take a look around this beautiful blog the decorated cookie and not feel like baking something very sweet afterwards. It's amazing...

Hope your week has started well!

Sarah xx

Toasted Muesli = Healthy + Yummy!

Okay so this is very timely, considering we are at the start of winter here in chilly Melbourne. Lately, my very sweet little son has been waking oh every other morning let's just say at 5.15am

and the last thing I do not at all feel like doing is venturing down to the cold kitchen to put a pot of porridge on in the dark (we are porridge obsessed in our house).

note: theoretically this recipe would actually suit the warm summer mornings better I suppose - who can ever remember to soak their oats bircher style in the fridge the night before? Not me!

So I stumbled across this lovely recipe here the other day - I tweaked it for my own dietary and budgetary needs and voila! It is so easy and very quick and a lovely alternative to having a cooked breakfast. The ones you can buy are full of saturated fat and preservatives (try and find a muesli that has none, its very hard!) so I am so thrilled to find I can make it myself and the kids loved it too. Perhaps everyone else has been aware of this ability to toast ones own muesli - but I certainly was in the dark and am glad to have seen the light.

Totally yummy, cheap, very sweet and crunchy except there is only one problem. I ate it all day!

Recipe/Method/How To...

Heat up one cup of honey (to make it runny) and add to 5 cups of rolled oats, a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and a bit of grated nutmeg and allspice if you have it, 150gms-ish each of pepitas and sunflower seeds and stir until coated.

Divide it between two lined baking trays and bake in the oven (180) for around 20 minutes or until golden! Remember to give them a stir half way through so you don't end up with burnt bits, it actually cooks very quickly so keep a good eye on it!

So if you look on the link to the original recipe there are obviously loads more options, including

*slivered almonds

*chopped dried apricots

*sultanas

*dried cranberries

*shredded coconut

*sunflower or canola oil

I say go for it and add whatever your heart desires - personally I make mine basic and then add as I serve afterwards. Chuck it in an airtight container and try and make it last!

Ooh I just had another idea - wouldn't this be super sprinkled on some yoghurt spooned on top of some chargrilled or baked nectarines in summer? Or the other way around, Bircher style breakfast/brunch with natural yoghurt on top and apple or pear grated through? I have so far tried mine dry by the spoonful and with cold milk. Mmmmm...

Hope you have had a wonderful day!

Sarah xxx

My Favourite Fetta...

To feta with one t or two? I am not sure, one feels better to me but my favourite product that I always have stocked up in the fridge is this amazing South Cape Tasmanian Low Fat Fetta..

It is more of a Danish style, instead of dry and crumbly like a lot of low-fat feta can be it is incredibly smooth and creamy!

I buy it at Woolworths a few at a time as they last forever in the fridge and find it invaluable - on the salad below or in anything really. It's only about 13% fat and a lovely way to add some creaminess and saltiness and lets just say all round pizazz to any dish. If I am making homemade pizzas I have this on mine, its also great crumbled over a mediteranean style chicken bake or in a frittata with lots of mushrooms and leek!

To be completely honest, I am not usually a fan of 'low fat' varieties, I think they just add who knows what to their products (sugar, sugar and more sugar and chemicals) but in the case of yoghurt and feta, which are already naturally low in fat I think it's okay.

I am a really big believer in checking the ingredients list for everything you buy! It's the only way to become an educated food consumer. But that is for another post! Go buy some of this yummy feta! There you go, I went with one t.

Sarah xx